


Memento Mori

by Maoriel



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Extremis Tony Stark, POV Third Person, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Superior Iron Man, listen thanos shouldn't had killed tony's arachnid son, this bitch had it coming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 12:37:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16429547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maoriel/pseuds/Maoriel
Summary: And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.





	Memento Mori

**Author's Note:**

> So, I know that they showed us the glimpse of A4 Iron Man suit, but tbh when Russos said that after Peter's death Tony would reach his lowest point, SIM and Endo Sym Armor were the first thought in my mind, so, here we are.

_“What do you know about death?”_

_“Death is a lady,” Gamora says with a certain tone in her voice and Nebula shrugs her slender shoulders._

_“Some say that it’s a man who reaps the souls.”_

_Gamora furrows her eyebrows, analyzing the new information, then she too, shrugs, mimicking her sister._

_“I don’t know, some in my planet said that it was a dark tunnel with the light at the ending,” she glances at Nebula with curious eyes, “you think it’s true?”_

_Nebula only shifts, fingers touching her new mechanical elbow and she eyes it with distaste._

_“_ _Don’t know, but guess I’ll soon find it out.” She says bitterly and glances at Thanos._

 

Thanos throws a punch, though he knows that it’s weak, futile, impotent.

Useless.

He’s too tired to throw a decent punch. Too tired and worn out, wounded, bleeding and burnt everywhere. Still he throws a punch, because after all these years, he finally has a decent opponent and he owed him a decent fight, even if Thanos is too awed to battle against him.

A single pale tentacle catches his wrist and pulls him forward, making him to drop on his knees and face the pale, flawless armor in front of him. Exitement and fear churns his stomach as he stares his reflection that gazes from the chest plate. It’s twisted and ugly, projecting the worst of his flaws and thoughts, made him want to crawl in the deepest hole in the universe and die there, makes him feel twisted and ugly. Weak. Small. Powerless.

Inferior.

The face plate slips and Stark glances down at him with a cool, unfeeling gaze. His pale, metal clad fingers move and touch the single bleeding cut above his brow as he sneers at Thanos:

“All that for a drop of blood?” his jaw clenches and his crisp blue eyes shine brighter, like his anger fuels them until they go supernova and burn themselves alongside their owner and everyone near him. In the still functioning corner of his mind, Thanos wonders why they look so wrong, so cold and soulless. These blue eyes just go colder when Stark shoots him another glare, but it somehow feels mocking and Thanos isn’t sure if Stark is mocking Thanos or himself. “All these sleepless nights for this? That’s all you’ve got? The Mad Titan, Destroyer of the Universe just kneels before me?”

“I’m tired,” Thanos croaks and tries to look at Stark in the eyes. He knows hat feeling, that disappointment. Waiting to face the man who destroyed his army, preparing for the final battle and all these years’ excitement wasted on a single drop of blood. Still, he respected Stark, because it wasn’t easy to make the Mad Titan bleed.

Stark scoffs at him.

“You should have thought about that when you wiped out half of the universe.”

“It had to be done.” Thanos argues and Stark bends over him, grabbing the back of his hand with his cool metal fingers, cold blue eyes glowing and calculating as he looks at him up and down, weighing his options, deciding Thanos’ worth. Thanos’ mind is still fascinated by them. Were they always so blue and glowing? so cold? so chilling? So dead?

They harden like two pieces of newly cut sharp diamond and somehow Thanos feels like he was judged and found guilty.

It’s nothing new, he supposes. People always feared and loathed him, sneered behind his back and called him names. Thanos only met two person who he thought could hold their ground against him and he raised them and called them his daughters.

Well, until now.

“No one asked you to do that. We could’ve overcome that, we constantly evolve, solve our problems, you had to trusted us. That’s what had to be done,” Stark snarls, “But instead of that, you destroyed half of the universe, you killed Peter,” if it’s possible, Stark’s eyes get even more chilling, “You call yourself burdened with knowledge. Then you should have known that you shouldn’t have killed them. You shouldn’t have killed Peter.”

“It costed me everything.”

“It costed you nothing,” Stark grows and his armor gets even more bright and overwhelming, twisting Thanos’ reflection so much that he can’t recognize this sad purple thing as himself. “Don’t delude yourself. You sacrificed nothing. To sacrifice something, you have to love it.”

Thanos raises an eyebrow and gives Stark a bloody grin.

“I sacrificed my daughter and with her - my soul. I exchanged my soul in Soul Stone,” He eyes the human warily, bending forward, looking him in the eye as he whispers, “Did you do it?”

Stark laughs. His laugh is harsh and cold. Just like his armor. Just like his eyes.

“It’s cute that you think that I haven’t shattered it in thousand pieces when I designed my first missile,” a bitter smile overtakes his face as he crouches in front of Thanos, his palm touching the Titan’s forehead. Thanos thinks that somehow the gesture isn’t for petting, “You know, I told myself but I would never build weapons again, I swore it and after our last encounter, building them was all I've done," Stark exhales and stares at Thanos, his blue eyes piercing like two metal cutting lasers. "I had forgotten just how good I was at it, at killing people, bathing in their blood without caring about it. I was so good that they called me the Merchant of Death and I thought they were correct. But I was wrong. They were wrong. I’m not Merchant of Death, I don’t sell it, it’s not my job. It never was my job. I am and always was the Death itself and now, I’m going to reap your soul just like you reaped half of the universe.”

Stark gives him another cold smile and Thanos feels how the palm on his forehead vibrates.

The last thing before the repulsor takes off his head is the black skies that wrap around him like a dark, dark tunnel with two glowing blue eyes as the single source of light at the end of it.

 

 _Guess I’ve found it sooner than you, Nebula_.

**Author's Note:**

> So I have the headcanon that when Thanos sees someone with the potential to kick his ass in the future, he pets them on their heads and thinks about adopting them (like he petted Wanda and Tony).  
> Anyways you can drop a comment here or shout at me on Tumblr: maorael.tumblr.com


End file.
